THE BLOGGER TRIBE: REBBIE REVIEWS

I'm Rebbie, the founder of Rebbie Reviews on Wordpress. I'm very grateful to Gingernuts of Horror for this opportunity to introduce myself on this fantastic site!

A few fun facts before I launch into what got me started on blogging, my big loves are Reading (obviously), Animals and Travelling. I live in a city so I absolutely love getting out into the countryside and seeing some green, it's like a little holiday! I help my husband homebrew so we always have a cellar full of Beer, Wine and whatever concoctions he's dreamed up and we both enjoy films and Gaming.

My favourite Author is the exceptionally talented Mr Lex H Jones, his books captivate me in a way that just makes everything else go away. I read half of his latest release The Other Side of The Mirror in one sitting in a pub while having an Estate Agent show my house. The pub made a fair bit out of me in the way of coffee that day because I couldn't bear to put the book down. I would absolutely recommend any of his works, if you don't want to dedicate the time to a full novel (which you should but I won't judge you too harshly) he's got plenty of short stories in various collections.

My favourite Genre of anything is Horror, despite having several childhood fears that are still extremely present, and my favourite Film is Labyrinth, or Chucky. Not much difference there then! I love a good musical as much as the next person, in fact for a nice blend of both you should check out Repo: The Genetic Opera, that's a fabulous film.

I've been highly passionate about reading ever since I can remember. Everyone I've ever known has commented about my appetite for books and I have a habit of giving a verbal review every time I read something, that's actually how I started Rebbie Reviews.

At one time I had a long commute to work (2 hours there, 2 hours back for a four hour shift) so I used to get through the books like nobody you've ever seen. My Husband, bless his extremely patient soul, was getting so many verbal reviews of books that one day he suggested I start a blog, so I did! I expected it to be like some kind of online diary where I would mumble to myself about what I thought of books and never get any kind of following. After all, who am I? Some book swot from Sheffield that nobody knows, who cares what I think?

I could not have been more wrong! I quickly reached a point where I needed spreadsheets to keep up with the review requests, I had competitions going, signed books being sent to me, interviews, blog hops, beta reading, author spotlights - you name it, I was doing it. I even edited a book! The blog was booming, I even had readership in Indonesia and Malaysia! I had a competition winner who I mailed a book and some chocolate to - in the Philippines! It grew so fast I couldn't believe my eyes!

It was also utterly exhausting. I had authors blocking me because they didn't like what I thought of their books, I had some rather nasty comments on the blog at one stage but I found those quite funny so I authorised them for all to see, haha! I couldn't read what I wanted because I had that many requests coming in that I had no time for choice, as life carried me forward into a busier job, buying a house and ultimately wedding planning and marriage I lost my grip on the blog and unfortunately a lot of that stuff died away as I became quieter. I'm no less invested than I was but sometimes life just gets in the way. So yes there are both highs and lows to it, but I refuse to make this venture any kind of paid work so I can't really put the time into it that I want to in order to keep it as busy as I did.

I've met some wonderful people doing what I do and I'm so grateful to my Husband for his off the cuff "will you please shut up so I can play this game in peace" suggestion. I've had authors handing out bookmarks with my blog address on at Horror Conventions, I've met the creative minds behind so many wonderful stories and never, even when the blog was getting stressful, have I regretted a moment of it. My only regret is having slacked off a bit really, I'm sorry to my readers for that.

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